In N.Y. and California, Different Approaches to Abuse

Wherever the developmentally disabled live, abuse is their neighbor.
It comes as deliberate assault by caregivers and sometimes relatives. It comes as acts of frustration, when people exhausted from the relentless difficulties of caring for patients with intellectual disabilities shove and hit the vulnerable.
Government agencies are often judged as much on their response to abuse as on their success at preventing attacks. By this measure, California and New York have repeatedly failed, as news reports over the past year have detailed numerous cases in which state officials overlooked evidence of attacks and suspicious deaths.
Both New York and California are working to overhaul their abuse response systems. However, the states are taking different approaches.